110 HR 5898 IH: To authorize a grant program to help establish and
U.S. House of Representatives
2008-04-24
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EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the Silver
Alert Grant Program Act of 2008
.
2.The purposes of this Act are to—
(1)create a grant
program to encourage the establishment and improvement of State-administered
notification systems to help find missing seniors and other individuals with
Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses before the missing
seniors and other individuals harm themselves or others;
(2)promote best
practices, based on the experiences of existing Silver Alert systems, to guide
the establishment of new Silver Alert systems and the improvement of existing
Silver Alert systems; and
(3)increase awareness
about the need for coordinated efforts between families, caregivers, local
communities, and law enforcement authorities to help locate missing individuals
as quickly as possible to increase the chances of safely reuniting the
individuals with their families.
3.Findings; Sense
of Congress
(a)The Congress finds as follows:
(1)According to the
National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health, as many as
5,000,000 people in the United States may suffer from Alzheimer’s
disease.
(2)The National Institute on Aging reports
that, although Alzheimer’s disease usually impacts people age 60 and older,
younger people can also be affected, and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s
disease increases with age.
(3)An analysis of
data on Alzheimer’s disease in the United States shows that 1 in 8 people over
the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s disease, and that every 71 seconds another
individual in the United States develops the disease.
(4)The aging of the
members of the baby boomer generation will increase the number of people
suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses in the
coming years.
(5)The Alzheimer’s
Association estimates that more than 60 percent of people suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease will wander away from their homes or care-giving facilities
during their lifetimes.
(6)Alzheimer’s
disease and other dementia-related illnesses leave their victims confused,
disoriented, and often unable return to their to homes, families, or
care-giving facilities.
(7)States such as
Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas have established
State-administered notification systems, modeled after the highly successful
Amber Alert system, to help disseminate relevant information about missing
seniors and those with other dementia-related illnesses to law enforcement and
other appropriate authorities in an expeditious manner. The experiences of
these States have shown that the timely notification and dissemination of
appropriate information about missing individuals greatly increases the chances
of that the individuals will be located.
(8)Other States have
explored the development of such systems but have faced difficulty creating and
implementing such systems due to budget constraints.
(b)It is the sense of
Congress that—
(1)Silver Alert
systems—
(A)should include
definitive criteria for issuing Silver Alerts to ensure that the impact of such
Alerts is not lessened by overly frequent notifications;
(B)should not permit a determination of
whether to issue a Silver Alert to be based solely on the age of the missing
individual;
(C)should only be used to issue Silver Alerts
with respect to individuals who are incapable of making personal care decisions
or managing their own personal affairs;
(D)should only be initiated by a
person—
(i)who
has had recent contact with the missing individual with respect to whom a
Silver Alert may be issued; and
(ii)who
is a legal guardian, a close family member, a resident of the same household,
or a caregiver of the missing individual;
(E)should protect the privacy, dignity,
independence, and autonomy of the individuals with respect to whom Silver
Alerts are issued;
(F)should encourage the training of law
enforcement officers and other first responders about the most appropriate
methods of locating missing individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other
dementia-related illnesses, determining whether an individual suffers from a
dementia-related illness, and the most effective way to communicate with such
an individual; and
(G)should encourage
coordination between appropriate State officials administering such systems and
local entities administering programs under the Missing Alzheimer’s Disease
Patient Alert Program; and
(2)the Federal
Government can play an important role in preventing injuries and loss of life
among those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses by
helping States defray the costs of establishing, implementing, and improving
Silver Alert systems.
4.Silver Alert
System grant program
(a)The Attorney
General is authorized to award grants to States to—
(1)establish and implement a Silver Alert
system; or
(2)make improvements
to an existing Silver Alert system.
(b)Grant period;
Minimum award
(1)Each grant under this section shall be awarded for a
one-year period, and may be renewed for additional one-year periods as the
Attorney General determines to be appropriate.
(2)Each grant awarded to a
State under this section shall be for an amount that is not less than
$100,000.
(c)Not
later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney
General shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this
section, including—
(1)eligibility and
application criteria for States desiring to receive a grant under this section;
and
(2)selection criteria
to be used by the Attorney General to select the States that will receive a
grant under this section.
(d)Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $5,600,000 for each of
the fiscal years 2009 through 2013.
5.Annual report on
Silver Alert systemsNot later
than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter,
the Attorney General shall prepare and make available to the House of
Representatives and the Senate a report related to Silver Alert systems, which
shall include—
(1)a
list of States that have established Silver Alert systems;
(2)for each State
that has established such a system—
(A)the number of
Silver Alerts issued;
(B)the number of
individuals located successfully;
(C)the average period
of time between the issuance of a Silver Alert and the location of the
individual for whom such Alert was issued;
(D)the State agency
or authority issuing Silver Alerts, and the process by which Silver Alerts are
disseminated;
(E)the cost of
establishing and operating such a system;
(F)the criteria used
by the State to determine whether to issue a Silver Alert; and
(G)the extent to
which missing individuals for whom Silver Alerts were issued crossed State
lines;
(3)actions States
have taken to protect the privacy and dignity of the individuals for whom
Silver Alerts are issued;
(4)ways that States
have facilitated and improved communication about missing individuals between
families, caregivers, law enforcement officials, and other authorities;
and
(5)any other
information the Attorney General determines to be appropriate.
6.For the purposes of this Act:
(1)The term Silver
Alert system means a State-administered notification system to help
locate missing individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related
illnesses.
(2)The term State means each of the several
States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.